Santa Clara County Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
HARLAN TILLOTSON
resides on the Berryessa and Milpitas road, in the Berryessa District, about six
miles north of San Jose, and one and one-half south of Milpitas; there he owns
thirty-seven acres of an original tract of eighty-eight acres. His land is
highly cultivated, twenty-four acres being in orchard, the products of which are
peaches, prunes, apricots, and pears. Six acres raise corn and potatoes, and the
rest of the farm produces hay. The orchard proves a profitable investment, the
crop of 1887 yielding over $200 per acre.
Mr. Tillotson dates his birth in Sandusky, Ohio, December 21, 1827. He
is the son of Jeremiah and Mary (Miller) Tillotson, natives of New York. His
parents removed from Ohio to Branch County, Michigan, in 1829, and thence in
1834 to Fremont, Steuben County, Indiana. In these frontier settlements, the
father was engaged in agriculture, and to that industry Mr. Tillotson was early
trained. Naturally, in such new sections, his educational facilities were
limited. He remained with his parents until twenty-two years of age, when he
married and established himself as a farmer near his old home. His wife was
formerly Miss Emmeline Fessenden, the daughter of Jonathan Fessenden, a native
of Maine and a resident of Indiana.
In 1852 he followed in the trail of the thousands who had crossed the
plains to California, and located in Yuba County, where he engaged in mining. He
afterwards took up the occupation of a packer, giving it up in the fall of 1853,
when he opened a hotel at Camptonville, Yuba County. After spending two years in
the hotel, he followed teaming for a few months, and then bought a mine, in the
working of which he spent a year or more. In 1857 he went to Sutter County, and
there engaged in grain farming, with profitable results, for eleven years. When
he left Sutter County, in 1868, it was to purchase the property where he now
lives.
The subject of our sketch is possessed of the industry, sound common sense, and
acquired business talents which are necessary to win success in any employment.
He is a strong Republican, and has been called upon by his fellow-citizens, as a
sure token of their confidence, to fill public offices of trust. In 1867 he was
elected as County Assessor of Sutter County, and in 1884 as one of the
Supervisors of Santa Clara County. He has also served as School Trustee. He is a
member of the Masonic fraternity.
Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Tillotson, but three are now
living, viz.: Sarah Jane, the wife of A. M. Ogan, of San Jose; Alvin H., who
married Catharine Mahoney, a native of Michigan and a resident of San Jose; and
Nettie, who resides with her parents.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California,
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company,
1888.
Pg. 542-543